Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava late Tuesday acknowledged that Gov. Ron DeSantis' authority to buy a county-owned airport in the Everglades to build an immigration detention center, but said she has “significant concerns” about its environmental impact.
“We understand that state agencies under the Governor’s direction have broad authority to take action under declared states of emergency, but the rapid pace of this effort has provided little opportunity for due diligence given the potential significant impacts to our community,” Levine Cava said in a statement.
She said the state of Florida had informed the county of the state’s project — dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Florida Attorney General James — to turn the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport into a detention center to house suspected undocumented immigrants.
But she noted that county officials “continue to have significant concerns about the scope and scale of the state’s effort, particularly regarding the environmental safeguards in place given the potentially devastating impact to the Everglades.”:
She said the state and federal government has invested billions of dollars — including $6.5 billion under DeSantis — in Everglades restoration and that the famed “River of Grass” remains critical as a source of clean drinking water for South Floridians, and “the bedrock foundation of our state’s $1 trillion tourism economy.”
Levine Cava challenged the Governor’s office assertion that “operations on site will be completely self-contained.”
READ MORE: Florida to build ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention center for migrants in Everglades
“We continue to have concerns about how a facility at this scale can operate without impacts to the surrounding ecosystem,” she said.
She also said the state’s offer of $20 million to purchase the large parcel was “vastly lower” than the most recent appraisal of $190 million.
“Given the financial strain the County is facing, in part due to continued pressure from proposed state budget reductions and demands on local revenue, it is critical that we maximize the value of all taxpayer assets on behalf of our residents,” she wrote.
The action by DeSantis is part of a declared state of emergency issued two years ago to respond to reported mass illegal migration into Florida. He further extended that state of emergency earlier this month.
Using those emergency powers, DeSantis has greenlit the state's use of the airstrip in the Everglades — not in current use — to build the detention, located about 45 miles west of Miami.
Construction is already underway to build a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings similar to sites used during natural disasters. It is part of the state's plan to create 5,000 immigration detention beds by early July across a number of other facilities, according to top state officials.
The plan has the backing of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which called the facility “innovative” and “cost-effective.”
“Alligator Alcatraz will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida," DHS said in a statement on X.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the new facility will be funded in large part by the Shelter and Services Program within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which is best known for responding to hurricanes and other natural disasters.
“We are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal aliens,” said Noem in a written statement to the Associated Press. “We will expand facilities and bed space in just days."
Managing the facility “via a team of vendors” will cost $245 a bed per day or approximately $450 million a year, a U.S. official said. The expenses will be incurred by Florida and reimbursed by FEMA, which has a $625 million shelter and service program fund.
The decision by DeSantis administration officials comes at a time when the Trump administration has said it wants U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to apprehend at least 3,000 unauthorized migrants daily, up from about 650 daily during the first months of Trump’s second term.
